"...the boy was terrified back in S3 and he had good reason to be so...."

Yes, but his becoming allies with Lionel, when he knew what the man was capable of, and after Lionel had in fact imprisoned Clark himself, makes a mockery of the whole concept of Clark's fear. I can't accept Clark's fear as an excuse for his behaviour after that. Clark uses his fear as an excuse for not being a good person, instead of recognizing it and fighting against it. He lost all my sympathy because of that. He needs to be stomped on, not sympathized with and coddled, in my opinion.